1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a collection and disposal device, and more particularly to an insect collection and disposal device, but it will be immediately understood from the following description that the device could easily be used to collect and dispose of other small objects in a convenient and simple manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are a number of currently available devices used to dispose of living insects within domestic and office premises, as the presence of said insects can be distracting and also unhygienic in premises where food is prepared and eaten. The most common device is a swatter provided having a generally flexible elongate handle and an enlarged planar swatting panel which may be perforated. As is well known, such devices are used to swat the insect against a surface such as a work surface or window pane, whereafter the dead insect is removed from the surface, and the surface is then cleaned.
Alternative devices include electric usually wall mounted apparatus which incorporate an incandescent, electrified tube or panel to which the insects are drawn and electrocuted on making contact therewith, or chemical xe2x80x9cfly papersxe2x80x9d which release chemicals into the atmosphere which are either toxic to the insects thus killing the same, or are appealing to insects such that they are drawn towards the fly paper and make contact therewith, whereupon they adhere to the fly paper and ultimately die thereon.
It will be appreciated that the devices mentioned above are all inhumane in that the insect is ultimately exterminated in or on the device, but it should also be pointed out that there is a requirement for all these devices to be cleaned intermittently. On the one hand the build up of dead insects could be unhygienic and unsightly, and on the other hand the efficacy of the device is often impaired by the dead insects which accumulate thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,857 to Wade and others discloses a hand-held device which can be either battery or mains powered and which comprises an electric motor driving a fan which entrains air through a first open end of the device and expels said air through a further opening located downstream of the fan. The device further comprises, as an essential element of the invention described in this U.S. Patent, a disposable cartridge which may optionally be lined with a chemical xe2x80x9cfly paperxe2x80x9d or other adhesive coating and which at a first end includes a deflectable flap member and at a second end a filtering member. The cartridge may be either integrally formed within a tube through which air is entrained to flow by the fan or may be a separate item adapted to be removed from the device and replaced after use, but in either case the power of the fan and the resiliency of the flap must be chosen such that the flap is deflected into an open condition when air is flowing through the device. In this manner, an insect, whether living or dead, can be sucked into the first open end of the device as the air is entrained therein, past the open flap and into the cartridge. The insect and any other detritus is removed from the air stream containing same by the filter provided at the alternate end of the cartridge whereafter the air is expelled through the second opening of the tube. The insect and other detritus is retained within the cartridge where it either expires through lack of oxygen, or is actively exterminated as a result of the chemicals being released by the fly paper or other chemical coatings provided in said cartridge.
Although the above device may be considered an improvement on the common and currently used devices from the perspective of convenience, it remains the intention of the device to ultimately exterminate the insects trapped in the cartridge. Furthermore, the design of the device is intricate, complex and has a number of different components which would require to be manufactured individually, and accordingly the cost of the device may be prohibitive, especially when some of the conventional insect extermination means are relatively inexpensive.
It is an object of this invention to provide an insect collection and disposal device which is inexpensive, humane, convenient and simple to operate and control, and which can be relatively inexpensively manufactured.
According to the invention there is provided a device for the collection and disposal of insects and similarly sized detrital objects, said device having an air inlet end through which air can be entrained, and an air outlet from which said entrained air is expelled, said device also having a hollow duct portion through which entrained air passes, a filter being provided between the inlet and the outlet which filters insects from the entrained air, and means creating a pressure differential between the inlet and outlet. of the device such that air and insects can be entrained in the inlet and drawn through the duct portion towards the filter of the device, the passage of air between the air inlet and the filter being substantially unhindered, such that insects entrained into the duct and retained against the filter when the means creating the pressure differential is operative can escape from the device when the means creating the pressure differential is inoperative or reversed, and characterised in that said hollow duct portion comprises a slightly tapering hollow tubular portion and a hollow sleeve, the hollow tubular portion forming part of a housing with the filter located at a free end thereof, the hollow sleeve frictionally engaging over the hollow tubular portion, said hollow tubular portion, said hollow sleeve and said filter being of substantially equal dimensions.
Preferably the means creating the pressure differential is a fan, impeller or the like.
Further preferably, the filter comprises a gauze or mesh which allows air flow therethrough but which prevents particulate items such as insects and detritus from passing.
Most preferably the device is battery powered. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the motor can be driven in either a forward or a reverse direction, operation in a first of these directions causes air entrainment into the inlet of the device and expulsion from the outlet, and operation in the alternate of these directions cause air to be expelled from the inlet end of the device. In this manner, insects and detritus and the like can be sucked into the device, and then forcibly expelled therefrom at the choice of the user.
It is preferable that the air flow is substantially unhindered from the inlet end of the device to the filter, although it is foreseen by the applicant that the internal surface of the duct portion may be provided with staggered protrusions past which the air can flow in an albeit uninterrupted manner.
Preferably, the power of the motor is such that a pressure differential between the inlet and outlet ends of the device is achieved which is sufficient to entrain air and insects into the inlet, but which is insufficient to cause any harm to the insects as they impact against and are retained on said filter means during operation of the fan.
The inventor hereof has realised that the provision of a deflectable flap as in U.S. Pat No. 4,918,857 is an unnecessary and expensive modification to the device proposed herein, and furthermore the humane disposal of insects entrained into the device of the present invention resents a significant advantage.